


Fight

by theobjectlesson



Series: Effortless [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, because toph, not too graphic though, there's a little violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 06:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10530978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theobjectlesson/pseuds/theobjectlesson
Summary: Toph never fails to start something. Sokka usually tries to talk her way out of it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Post-series by some number of years, because eh timelines. Not particularly canon compliant. Canon, shmanon.
> 
> ... yeah, it's 2017 and I'm still obsessed with AtLA. So what? Come at me bro. There's not nearly enough Tokka on this website so I'm going to fix that SINGLE-HANDEDLY...
> 
> ... not really. Please send help.

 

 

The bar is crowded and hot the way bars in Ba Sing Se get in the summer when everyone’s on their fourth drink and the night air is almost as hot as the day. It’s crowded, and hot, and Sokka knows Toph’s been itching for a fight since they set foot inside the outer wall. Probably since they got sent on this trip in the first place.

This is the kind of place that would give it to her, which is probably why she suggested it, Sokka realizes, looking around. A lot of burly, grizzled earth benders, happy to talk a big game about what their heroics and patriotism in the war but never with too many specifics to back it up. Cheap drinks, cheaper company. He tries to keep her close without letting on that he’s doing it. Yeah, right.

“Trying to get fresh, Snoozles?” she smirks at him from beneath her messy hair. The strands of her bangs are damp and falling in her face, the rest tied back in a messy tail off the sheen of sweat on the back of her neck.

“Toph, it’s the Earth Kingdom, it’s summer, and this bar is older than Aang. Nothing here is fresh.”

He sticks close to her all the same, watches her bring her (mercifully) cold beer to her mouth. Sokka does the same, relaxes for half a second. Then, loud and clear through the din of noise.

“Yeah well, the new reign’s giving this city to the wolfbats.”

Toph pauses mid-drink. Sokka prays.

“But who’s surprised right? Non-bender slimed her way to the throne. Downright shameful is what it is.”

Toph sets her glass on a grimy table. Sokka prays harder.

“Who even knows where she’s from? Yeah, they _say_ Ba Sing Se, but who even knows? City flooded with lowlife looking for handouts after the war. Anyone could just come in. I bet she’s one of that lot. Good for nothing freeloaders.”

“Hey, assface!”

Dammit. Toph’s call quiets the bar. Her insults have never been particularly sophisticated but they sure can get your attention. Sokka tries because he always tries.

“Toph, c’mon. Delicious, cold beer, remember? We came here for beer.”

She’s already turned in the direction of the man. Sokka sees the source of the voice now, and oh great, he’s massive. And ugly. And looking around the source of the insult.

“Yeah, you. With the face like an ass.”

Assface’s eyes find Toph. Sokka has to bite down a snort at his expression. While she’s not as tiny as she used to be, Toph’s mouth will always be a lot bigger than the rest of her. 

“You talkin’ to me, lady?”

“You think I might be? So you agree about your face and its close resemblance to an ass.”

Assface stands. Maybe he’s a little slow, because he still looks like his brain can’t quite process his challenger.

“The hell is your problem?”

“You’re my problem, assface. You got something against nonbenders? Man, you must be even stupider than you look. And you look really, _really_ stupid.”

The bar is pretty dim, and Assface has clearly had a few. Maybe he hasn’t noticed Toph’s blind. Maybe he really _is_ as stupid as he looks.

“Hey fuck you. I’ll say it to your face, you non-benders ain’t worth shit for anything.”

Sokka puts a hand on her arm, “Well said, sir. We were just going, no need for anyone to-”

“Oh you think we aren’t, huh? Wanna test that theory, Assface?”

Uh, what?

“Toph, what are you doing?”

Assface scoffs, “Yeah, better step in, Water Tribe, get a muzzle for your girl here.”

Well they’ve passed the point where praying was going to help him. Sokka sighs. Toph has the nerve to grin. Probably just to annoy him.

“You and me, man. Outside. I’ll even let you have the first shot.”

 -

Sokka really hopes this is a trick.

Half the bar emptied at the prospect of a show in the street. It’s a dim alley, only the glow of the lamps over the bar door to light it. Assface is standing with his cronies, and… yep, he’s flexing. Delightful. Toph is shrugging out of her vest and adjusting her gloves.

“Hold this for me, won’t you?” she says pleasantly, draping the garment over Sokka’s arm, “Wouldn’t want to get blood on it.”

“Toph, this is a trick right?”

“No, the beatdown I’m about to lay on this fool is all real.”

“Yeah but with bending right?”

She shoots him a last smile and turns, steps forward into the circle formed by the bar patrons. Sokka blanches.

“Right-?“ he whispers frantically, but no, it’s too late now. Toph cracks her knuckles and puts her hands on her hips.

“Alright, assface. Let’s see if you can tangle with a weak little non-bender like me.”

“Bro, hold my drink, this is gonna go quick,” he grunts.

They only face off for a moment before Assface makes his first move. With a thrust of an arm, a big slab of earth flips up in front of him and flies forward, hitting Toph almost square on, flinging her backwards into the dirt. The slab crumbles and dust from the baked earthen street flies up around them, coating everything in the city’s grime. Assface wipes sweaty silt from his forehead and stares with a reasonable amount of disbelief as Toph pulls herself upright with a groan and a grin.

“Toph are you ok?” Sokka starts to move towards her but she waves him off with a dirty hand.

“Alright, alright, assface, not bad,” she wheezes. Sokka can see blood in her teeth.

“Now let’s see what else you got.”

Sokka kind of can’t believe what he’s seeing, after that. It isn’t like he’s never seen Toph beat the ever-loving shit out of a man 3 times her size before. Or 5 men. Or an army of men. She isn’t the world’s greatest earth bender for nothing. But she’s an _earth bender_. Not some kind of expert in bare-knuckle hand-to-hand savagery.

Assface can’t get another hit on her. She dodges all his blows, ducks every boulder and spins past every landslide. She darts and weaves right up to him and makes quick, merciless work of his stomach, jaw, nose, and ears in rapid fire with her gloved fists. He falls like a bag of sand after a vicious right hook to the cheek, and Toph stops. The alley is totally silent. Sokka sees blood drip from her knuckles into the dust.

“Bitch, we’re gonna kill you!” one of Assface’s buddies shouts, and Sokka is grabbing her arm and pulling.

“Ok, now it’s my turn for a trick.”

His trick is making a run for it. Sprinting through the narrow alleys of the slums of Ba Sing Se, it doesn’t take long to lose the much slower band of thugs. Sokka pulls Toph into an even darker, narrower side alley and they wait in the relative silence of heaving breath as the sound of footsteps and shouted threats disappears into the night.

“Toph…”

“What?” she says like she doesn’t know. Sokka rolls his eyes and turns his head against the decrepit building to look at her. She’s a little hunched over, dirty and bloody from the fight. Her arms and shoulders are still tense, lean muscle protruding from her narrow frame as the fight adrenaline still courses through them.

“Sokka, what.”

He gives a long-beleaguered, somewhat over-dramatic sigh.

“Must you?”

“That guy was a fucking moron. Someone had defend your… or you, or you guys, or whatever.”

Sokka feels like he can see a little heat on her face even through the grime and night. Her words sink in.

“Wait… is that what you were doing? Defending my honor?” he asks, incredulous.

“You heard what he said, about non-benders!” Sokka bursts out laughing. “Oh, fuck you, then. See if I ever stand up for you again.”

“Stand up for me by pretending not to be a bender and then pummeling a guy three times your size half to death with your bare hands?”

“Yeah. What were you expecting, flowers?”

Sokka’s heart suddenly aches in his chest. They're quiet for a moment. 

“Just how did you do that, by the way?” Sokka says finally.

Toph leers at him.

“See, admit it, you enjoyed it.”

Sokka admits nothing, but he can tell she knows anyway. She relents.

“Hey, I told him I’d let him have the first shot. I kind of figured, it’s so dry here right now, and he’d do some big stupid overcompensating move, and dust would fly everywhere. Once it got all over his skin, it was pretty easy to tell where to punch.”

Sokka doesn't even know what to say to that, she's so matter-of-fact about that obviously insane plan. It’s then that he remembers, the rock to her whole body, and sees how she’s holding her side around the ribs.

“Are you ok? That was a pretty big first shot.”

“It’s nothing, barely bruised. I’ll be fine,” she waves him off, but her teeth are still a little tinged and Sokka isn’t convinced.

“Ok so at least you did have a plan, even if it was a crazy one.”

“You like crazy plans.”

“I like not getting my ass beat.”

“Pssh, they’d have to go through me.”

Sokka knows it’s the truth.

“Ok but… why.”

“Why what?” she says flatly, but he can tell she knows what he means. Still, neither of them are about hiding anything.

“Why would you, of all people, study hand-to-hand combat?”

She shrugs, but he thinks he sees more blushing.

“I don’t know, I like it. Hitting someone with a closed fist? Pretty much the best. Plus, it’s how a lot of people fight… it’s how _you_ fight. I wanted to try it.”

His heart gives another throb. He stares down at his chest.

“You ok in there, Sokka? I know you’re an old man now, but that little jog can’t have done such a number on your ticker. We need to get you to a medic?”

Sokka scoffs, and wills his body to cooperate.

“If anyone needs a medic, it’s you. For your crazy, primarily. Luckily for _someone_ here, I’m pretty good with a bandage. Let’s go.”

 -

The apartment they’re sharing while they’re in Ba Sing Se is small, and Toph so far has been determined to keep it as un-homey as possible, like she’s afraid she’ll somehow get trapped in the city if she so much as unpacks. Sokka seats her at the barebones wooden table in the middle of a mostly empty common room and runs to his room to get his supplies. Never go anywhere with Toph without first aid materials.

When he comes back, she’s sprawled back, pinching the bridge of her nose, long legs splayed out. He takes inventory.

There’s a fair bit of dried blood around her mouth, probably from her nose and badly split lip. The skin of her forearms is chafed, probably from when she braced against the stone wall crashing into her. Her knuckles are vivid red and wet, though it’s hard to say how much of that is hers and how much belonged to Assface. Sokka rolls his eyes.

“Didn’t need eyeballs to see the face you just pulled, you dick,” Toph says, a little nasally through her pinched airway.

“Is it broken?”

“Nah, just bruised probably. Honestly it looks worse than it is.”

“That’s some real bullshit, coming from you.”

He gets a feral grin for his efforts. Sokka knees down with a clean cloth and a bowl of water as she leans forward a bit to help. Her face is sharp, with high cheekbones that are sporting some serious scrapes and bruises at the moment. Her unseeing eyes are huge. He tries to focus on the gore instead of her smooth skin as he starts working off the blood with the dampened cloth. She winces a little, but tries to cover it.

“Hey, he only got one hit in.”

“Yeah well, tough guy, that one hit did a real number on your face.”

Toph shrugs with one shoulder, mostly without cringing.

“Whatever. It’s just a face.”

“Hey, it’s a nice face. I like it. Try to take better care of it, please,” Sokka says lightly, but then it’s his turn to wince. He keeps dabbing with the cloth, trying to ignore the way the mouth under it flat-lines and then twists into a wry smirk.

“Sokka. How long have we been friends? I know all your moves. Stop doing moves.”

“What’re you even, that wasn’t… hey, I don’t have _moves_.”

“Oh please,” Toph laughs, which makes her lip start bleeding a little, “yes you do. You have like, at least three moves for women. Classic Sokka moves.”

“Well look, we can’t all be prodigies. Some of us have to get by on three moves.”

“See right there! Moves! You’re doing moves! What are you afraid you’re going to get rusty while you’re out of town so you’ve got to run ‘em on the only woman around?”

“That wasn’t a move! Not everyone is an earth-bending master _and_ a street-fighting champion. Prodigy kind of applies.”

Toph laughs at him again, but she blushes a little too.

“That right there, that’s one of the moves. The complement the woman’s area of expertise move.”

Sokka scowls and holds a glass of water for Toph to swish some of the blood off her teeth.

“That’s not a move, that’s just a statement of obvious fact. Are there areas in which you are not an expert?”

“Yeah I'm not very well-read.”

Sokka chuckles, wringing the cloth into the bowl before bringing it back to her cheek. Toph scowls at him. 

“Uh huh. Well I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish here, you’re obviously already in my good graces considering my clearly _huge_ mistake of defending your highly questionable honor.”

Sokka admittedly doesn’t know what he’s trying to accomplish either. It’s just… his work, his everything in Republic City has been such a battle lately, and since Toph made chief, he’s been on his own a lot. This trip with her, he’d found himself looking forward to it, and even if she’d done nothing but rag on Ba Sing Se, Sokka could tell Toph hadn’t totally hated the idea either. It’s been kind of like old times. Familiar, comforting… effortless.

Well, almost like old times. It’d been awhile since he hung out with Toph on the regular, since between police chiefing and city politicking they hadn’t had much time for Republic City’s grimier taverns. Suddenly being around her so much again, he can tell she’s… different. Still his friend, his best friend, but just, different. He feels like he should’ve noticed sooner. She looks different, sure, stretched into the lean stature of her parents but much, _much_ stronger, all wire and sinew with absolutely nothing extra. Definitely a woman, not a girl, though she certainly hasn’t gotten any more delicate or gentle other other things people automatically ascribe to being womanly. If anything, she’s harder, rougher than ever, but grown up. Over the years her childhood brashness refined down into unyielding confidence in her skills, but always with that edge of unfettered wildness that’ll get you into trouble every time because she knows she can always get you out.

“Sokka… you alive in there? Anyone home?”

“Yeah yeah, just hold still, you monster. And try to care more about your well-being.”

Toph gives the ground that long blank gaze that Sokka’s come to realize over the years is her staring at him by listening, and then grins. She leans back and offers up a skinned elbow.

“I don’t have to care about it, Sokka, that’s what I have you for.”

Sokka shakes his head and takes the offered limb. After a beat, he blurts out,

“And I wouldn’t use moves on _you_.”

More ten-thousand yard stare.

“Gee, thanks, Sokka.”

Dammit.

“What- no, c’mon that’s not what I meant.”

She raises her eyebrows.

“Oh really. Because that’s what it sounded like. My hearing is pretty good you know,” she says lightly, going to punch his arm, because it’s all a funny joke isn’t it? Sokka catches her other arm before she makes contact.

“No, I meant. You’re different, this is important to me and I meant… that’s just not what I meant.”

Toph leans forward, somehow challenging him even without pulling her arms free.

“So what did you mean?”

In his defense, it was a clear challenge. He’s known Toph long enough, he’s seen that face. Now, was it a challenge to kiss her? Probably not.

But that’s what he does. Just pulls in slightly on her arms in his hands and kisses her right on her still smirking mouth. She makes a noise into his mouth like she wasn’t expecting it, so even if she pummels him to death he supposes it was worth it just to finally get the drop on her.

Still, he doesn’t really want to get hit, so he doesn’t linger, pulling back enough to give her the option to pull away completely or… well, or.

“So which move was that?” he says, and his voice is low and hoarse and he really can see why she’d think he was trying to pull something on her but he’s not, he’s so _not_ and how is he just now realizing how much he doesn’t want her to hit him.

Toph, for once in her life, remains smirk free.

“That? That’s the most classic Sokka move of all. The, wait until it is almost so very close to being too late to make a move, move.”

Dammit he really does have Sokka moves.

“Ah, well… yeah, I guess it is. Sorry.”

The following silence is maybe the second longest of his life, but she hasn’t pulled away completely, or…

“Still, maybe run it by me again, just to be sure.”

Sokka feels all the air rush out of him like she did hit him, but he isn’t about to be late again. He kisses her again, but this time she kisses him back, strong hands immediately in his hair, pulling him in. Toph kisses like she does everything else, with absolute certainty and a little like it’s a fight and she’s going to win it, and this… this is the difference, with them, from now and before, that effortless path he’s been on with her that was also so bitterly hard-fought and almost lost so many times.

Sokka pulls her in like he’s been holding on to her for years, because he has, and Toph actually follows him which never gets less astounding. She slides off her chair and he winces at the crack of her knees hitting the floor but she doesn’t even pause. He realizes he should be careful, she’s hurt even if she won’t admit it, because she gets in fights. She gets in fights because some loser in a bar insulted him and… and they’ve done this before. They’ve been here before, maybe once, maybe hundreds of times, and he holds her even tighter because he could’ve, he almost waited too long. If she’s thinking the same thing, she doesn’t show it, just holds onto him right back like she’s been waiting forever and Sokka realizes she might’ve been.

Still, he can taste a little blood on her lips and he _didn’t_ wait too long so he can take a minute now to breathe out the immense relief of it all.

“Hey Sokka?” Toph says, forehead against his. He nods slightly.

“Thanks for trying again.”

Sokka smiles, even laughs.

“Thanks for letting me.”

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
